Fancy mac and cheese

I helped plan a baby shower for my friend Emily recently. We did a co-ed shower with a kid theme (played pin the baby on the father, gave out Nerf guns as prizes, played Candyland, etc.). To stick with the theme, we made finger versions of kids' foods. In addition to cupcakes, we had mini sloppy joes, bagel bites, homemade animal cookies, and mac and cheese cups.

To make the mac and cheese cups, I combined two ideas: parmesan tuiles and homemade mac and cheese. The parmesan tuiles were really easy to make. I looked up a few recipes but basically you just put parchment paper on a cookie sheet, sprinkle 3 Tbsp. freshly grated parmesan cheese in a circle about 3 inches wide, and bake it at 300 degrees for about 10 minutes. When you take them out, let them sit a minute. Then, remove them with a spatula. and form it into a cup using an upside-down shot glass. (For the size I wanted, a shot glass was the right size, but you could use a larger item for a bigger and more shallow cup.) Let it cool into the shape. This crisp, parmesan cup is beautiful AND delicious.

I used a mac and cheese recipe from my friend Fisch, but you could use any recipe. Then, I spooned the hot mac and cheese into the tuiles. The heat will soften the tuiles a bit, but mine still stayed up pretty well. (I don't have photos of the finished product because I added the mac and cheese when I was at the party site, but you can imagine how it looks.)

These are very cheesy (mac and cheese in a cup made of cheese!), but also very delicious. The crowd loved them.